Director: Roy William Neill
Writers: Bertram Millhauser, Arthur Conan Doyle
Stars: Basil Rathbone, Nigel Bruce, Dennis Hoey
Run Time: 1 Hour, 8 Minutes
Amazon Link: https://amzn.to/2z1ikUH
Synopsis:
We begin on a cruise ship. A man in a cabin hides a box containing a huge pearl. A devious-looking woman waits outside his stateroom and picks the lock after he leaves. We see her leave the room after a few minutes, and she comes out looking pretty smug. She gives an old clergyman her camera to sneak through customs. We realize that she’s hidden the pearl inside. On the other side of customs, he returns the camera to her.
She gives the camera to Giles Conover, but the pearl isn’t inside. Sherlock Holmes has left her a note inside the camera, that he was going to return the pearl to the museum. That was him in disguise as the old clergyman.
They hear someone coming up the stairs. Holmes grabs a gun, and Watson puts the pearl in his mouth. It’s just Inspector Lestrade. They return the pearl to the museum where the curator demonstrates an incredibly lame security system, which Holmes quickly disables to demonstrate its uselessness. None of them notice the man loitering outside the door listening. The man steals the pearl while Holmes is making his point. They quickly round up Conover, but he doesn’t have the pearl on him.
Lestrade mentions a new murder case he’s working on: Major Harker, a retired military man, has had his back broken. Holmes says it can only be the Oxton Creeper, who is supposed to be dead, but may have escaped.
Conover comes to see Watson, disguised, while Holmes is away. He leaves a trap inside a book for Holmes, but Holmes figures it out before it hurts anyone. Holmes gets another call, and there’s an old woman with her back broken. “There’s a monster loose in this city,” Holmes explains. A third murder occurs later that night. Holmes is convinces that the Creeper and Conover are somehow connected.
Holmes pieces together the broken china, and there are three identical plaster napoleon statues. Holmes thinks the pearl was hidden in one. They track down the plasterer, who says he made six of the Napoleon busts. They follow the trail of the Napoleons to a shop across town. Two of the busts were broken, but the sixth was sold to Dr. Coldicott. Except Naomi, Conover’s partner, has changed the name in the book. Naomi calls Conover and tells him that she is terrified of the creeper.
They arrest Naomi and head over to the home of Dr. Boncourt, the actual buyer of the sixth Napoleon. Conover and the Creeper go inside, but Holmes is waiting inside with a gun. Conover steals away the gun and calls in the Creeper. Holmes talks about poor Naomi going to prison over all this, as he knows that the Creeper is soft on Naomi. The Creeper turns on Conover, which goes badly for Conover. Holmes then shoots the Creeper and shoots him dead (or at least until the next Creeper film).
Commentary:
This story is based on “The Six Napoleons” by Arthur Conan Doyle. It’s a decent story with a great cast. I don’t remember seeing Holmes ever carry a gun before.
Rondo Hatton doesn’t have any lines, but he does play an important character in this first appearance of the Creeper. It wasn’t a huge role, but it led to the most memorable character of Hatton’s short career.